By definition gloves are protective in one way or another. The boxer's gloves will for example incorporate an outer padding to protect the user's hand when punching—naturally in such circumstances the user's hand would without protection undoubtedly be damaged. Other gloves are destined to protect the user's skin as he frequently repeats a movement under a given load. One example of such gloves would be those used in weight lifting.
Many prior art gloves are designed to have enhanced gripping capacities. An example of such a glove is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,669 which presents a bowling ball glove with improved grip to allow a pitcher of a ball to impose enhanced spin to a ball. Another example of non-slip gloves is presented in Japanese document 1216778.
Motorcycle gloves are generally designed to protect the wearer during a wide variety of travel situations. One of the requirements of gloves is that they be thermally insulating which becomes particularly important in harsh weather conditions or at elevated speeds. Such gloves are also customarily equipped with a water proofing layer which may take the form of a synthesised breathable material such as GORTEX (registered trade mark). The outer coating of many motorcycle gloves are still however often made out of leather, primarily because leather offers an ideal combination of natural protective and aesthetical properties. In certain areas of the motorcyclist's gear, there is sometimes proposed the incorporation of a highly abrasion-resistant material—for example located over the kneecaps or elbows or even over the outer portion of the glove which may come into contact with the road as the user maneuvers a curve during say a race. An example of such a proposal is disclosed in GB 022627.5.
However, in this proposal the underside of the glove will primarily be designed to enhance the user's grip to facilitate difficult maneuvers to be carried out.
One of the objectives of the invention is to present a radical departure from the conventional teaching of the above discussed prior art where the underside of the glove has the sole function of improving adhesion to objects during use.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide improvements to the protective characteristics of gloves when a user is impacted or propelled onto a surface.
Prior art gloves prove generally adequate in terms of thermal insulation and in being waterproof. However, in a motorcycle fall it is typical for the user of the glove to have the reflex of outstretching his arm in the vain attempt of protecting himself from the fall. As the user with his outstretched arms impacts on the road surface his hands and wrists are submitted to forces which often result in a fracture of a metacarpal or carpal bone. Statistically, the scaphoid bone is the most likely to fracture in these instances. There are typically one thousand of such accidents per day in the United Kingdom alone, a high percentage of which results in a fractured scaphoid bone.
The scaphoid bone is crucial to the intricate function of the wrist, it is the strong mechanical link between the proximal and distal carpal rows and can be regarded as an extension of the thumb ray into the wrist. It is subjected to shearing, rotational and compression forces from several surrounding structures. Therefore, any fracture of this bone is usually complex, often requiring prolonged immobilisation. The fracture is usually accompanied by a dull, deep pain in the wrist and throughout its treatment a pain may periodically be felt which may take weeks or even months to subside.
A further objective of the present invention is therefore to offer specific protection to the bones in the hand and wrist and particularly to the scaphoid bone.
The solution to this problem presented hereafter also aims at retaining the flexibility and grip which the conventional glove user has been accustomed to.